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QMI Agency

Oct 28, 2013

, Last Updated: 9:06 PM ET

Martin Hanzal will spend the next two games in the press box.

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced Monday the Phoenix Coyotes centre has been suspended two games for charging and making contact with the head of Edmonton Oilers defenceman Jeff Petry in Saturday's game.

"Petry is chasing down a puck chipped into his defensive corner as Hanzal approaches down the slot," said NHL exec Brian Leetch. "Having come from a distance with considerable speed, Hanzal launches up and into the head of Petry, making contact with his left forearm and driving Petry's head into the glass."

Leetch also noted that Hanzal's skates left the ice prior to contact. Hanzal has been suspended once before and is considered a repeat offender. Petry was not injured as a result of the play.

Hanzal received a minor charging penalty on the play.

"The fact that he makes significant contact to the head and with force elevates this charging penalty to a suspension," Leetch said.

Hanzal will forfeit $75,609.76 in salary.

In other supplemental discipline news, Los Angeles Kings forward Kyle Clifford was fined $2,756,41, the maximum allowable by the CBA, for kneeing Oilers centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the first period of Sunday's game.

SACCO DOOMED IN DENVER

Joe Sacco was doomed to fail, and Colorado Avalanche players knew it.

In a candid interview with the Denver Post, centre Matt Duchene dished on the team's former head coach and how his tight, conservative style didn't suit the team's plethora of young, skilled skaters.

"There were very few people in this (dressing) room who were happy. Our style of play, it wasn't right for this team. We knew it would fail," Duchene said. "That was the hard part. We knew (any) success was going to be short-lived. It was hard to really be excited about it."

Sacco was fired in April after the Avs missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Under his replacement, Patrick Roy, the team is off to a 10-1-0 start and sits second in the Western Conference.

"The one thing with Patrick is, there's no doghouse. If you're not doing what you're supposed to do, he's going to bring you in, he's going to sit you down and you're going to correct it constructively and then you're going to move on from there. You don't stay in that doghouse," Duchene said. "It's the first time I can honestly say everyone in this room is excited."

KOIVU SENT HOME

Anaheim Ducks forward Saku Koivu was sent home from the team's road trip Monday after being knocked unconscious by Columbus Blue Jackets centre Brandon Dubinsky Sunday.

Koivu will be checked out by team doctors. If it's determined he has no concussion symptoms, it's possible he could reunite with the team to end the trip, according to the Orange County Register.

Dubinsky will not receive supplemental discipline for the hit, according to TSN. The league reviewed the hit but ruled it a body-on-body check and contact made with Koivu's head was incidental.

Dubinsky received a major penalty and game misconduct for the hit, which occurred late in the second period.

SCUDERI SIDELINED, TOO

Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Rob Scuderi was sent home to have his lower-body injury re-evaluated, the team announced Monday.

The 34-year-old blueliner appeared to suffer a knee injury Saturday after getting clipped by Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Clarkson.

The injury could keep Scuderi out of action for at least a month, according to TSN.

Scuderi signed a four-year, $13.5 million contract with the Pens in the off-season. This is his second stint with the club.